Ranger 9 Approaches the Moon

Ranger 9 was launched March 21, 1965 and reached the Moon on March 24, 1965. It impacted the Moon in the crater Alphonsus, located at 12.8°S, 357.6°E. Ranger 9 was the last of the Ranger series. Rangers 7, 8, and 9 were successful missions to intentionally impact the Moon while taking photos on the way down. The pictures shown here document Ranger 9's descent toward Alphonsus Crater--the image at upper left shows Alphonsus Crater, the image at lower right shows the last image received before impact. The white circle in each frame indicates the impact site.